Hamish Badenoch, the husband of Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, has largely remained in the background as his wife has climbed to the top of the political ladder. While Kemi Badenoch has become a public figure, the banker is yet to become a household name.
During her leader's speech at the Conservative Party conference last year, Kemi Badenoch made reference to her fellow Tories being her family, saying: “You are my family – in many ways quite literally – I married the deputy chairman of my association.”
Banking background and education
Hamish Badenoch worked at Deutsche Bank for 15 years, where he was the global head of “future of work and real estate transformation” according to his LinkedIn. He is now a consultant, according to the Financial Times.
He previously worked at Barclays and read history at Cambridge from 1998 to 2001. His unusual surname dates back to a Scottish Gaelic heritage, although he was born in Wimbledon.
Political involvement
Hamish Badenoch was a Conservative councillor from 2014 to 2018 at Merton Council. He has been nowhere near the Commons, however, as he won only 132 votes when he stood for his party in the Northern Irish constituency of Foyle in 2015.
Marriage and family
Hamish Badenoch met Kemi Adegoke in 2009 at the Dulwich and West Norwood Conservative Club, writes the Mail, and gradually became an item as they worked together. They married in 2012 and have two sons and a daughter, aged six to 12.
He has supported Kemi throughout her whole political career. While not a career politician himself, he has been there every step of the way for his wife, giving her a lift around south London in 2010 as she battled Dame Tessa Jowell for the Dulwich and West Norwood seat.
Different political views
Sky News reports that this gives him a similarity to Denis Thatcher, but unlike the Iron Lady's other half, Mr Badenoch has a very low profile.
Lord Ashcroft commented: “Hamish and she are like a team. He put her career ahead of his own. If he said to her that he didn't think her being the leader would work for the family, she wouldn't do it.”
Kemi Badenoch has campaigned on a pro Brexit message but her husband does not share this view and is considered by insiders to be a more centrist Tory. Lord Ashcroft commented: “Anyone who claims she doesn't understand the One Nation wing of the party is reminded that she wakes up beside a Remainer every morning.”
